Rolex just released the ultimate dive watch

The Deepsea Sea-Dweller commemorates director James Cameron’s epic dive to the Mariana Trench

In 2012, Rolex set an incredible record when James Cameron descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a submersible with a concept watch from the brand strapped to the external maneuverable arm.

Both he and the watch, surfaced unscathed after spending nearly seven hours underwater and hitting the deep end of the trench at nearly 11km below the surface.

That concept timepiece was never available commercially. But earlier this week, Rolex released a commemorative edition of that stunning ticker. It’s very unlike the brand to release a watch outside of the yearly BaselWorld mega watch fair where all of its novelties are presented to hacks from around the world. But when there’s one that’s as special as this, they’ve got reason to make an exception.

The two-tone dial on the Deepsea Sea-Dweller with a D-Blue dial is simple. The blue up top gradually blackens lower down the dial, just as it would within the Mariana Trench where there’s no sunlight that penetrates the deeper reaches. The “Deepsea” insignia is in the same colour as the submersible used by James Cameron. But on the dial is the 12,800ft=3900m engraving – that one line alone bumps up the cred of this timepiece to the realms of truly being one of the world’s best dive watches.

Sure, that’s only a third as far down as Cameron got. But he was cocooned in a submersible. We’re assuming you’re in the market for one which you’ll strap on your wrist as you dive with nothing more than a wetsuit and a scuba set. Before you get to even a fifth of the depth that this new watch can dunk down to, should you be foolish enough to attempt it, you’ll be long dead.

The 44mm steel case houses a robust COSC-ceritifed in-house automatic caliber 3135 with a 48-hour power reserve. Priced at just over $12,000, that’s roughly only a $300 premium on the existing base model of the Sea-Dweller.

Not bad for bragging rights of owning a watch that can go further down than any watch can dare to go.